


A King's Last Words

by Awkwardly_social



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Crying, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sad, You'll cry a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 06:49:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9808031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awkwardly_social/pseuds/Awkwardly_social
Summary: Lance finds Coran mourning with a different Olkari cube from before in his hands. When he lends his ear to his friend he's told the story of a boy and his prince who became a man and his king and how they came together."Once old enough to comprehend such a bond, the boy became friends with the prince. They were young, adventurous, and the best of friends despite the difference in class. They swore to one another they would always be together to the ends of time.”





	

Typically when the woes of missing home struck the blue paladin he would find himself on the ship’s bridge to address them alone. If discovered, typically by Hunk or Coran, though not always, they would let him talk it out. Sometimes just offering their support through silent conversation with their presence alone. It was a welcome pattern.

This time when Lance edges his way into the room he’s met with the sight of someone having beaten him there. Coran is sat on the stairs, gently turning a familiar, yet different cube in the palms of his hands. Lance startles when the man looks up at him, then flushes realizing he’d been standing there like some kind of creeper. He makes his way over and sits down. “Hey Coran, you doing okay?”

Coran gives him a small smile. “I have been better, but I have also been worse Lance. What about you? Are we both missing people tonight?”

Lance tugs his jacket sleeves over the ends of his fingers to shove his hands between his thighs. “You caught me. You know…” He releases a quick huff of breath and moves his gaze from his knees to meet the man’s next to him, his tone serious. “I’m always here if you need to talk. This isn’t a one sided therapy session every time I get a little home sick. I’m here to listen.”

Coran’s smile grows a little and a bit of weight appears to move itself off his shoulders. “I know. Thank you Lance.” He fumbles with the cube some more and Lance takes a closer look. It’s exactly like the one Coran had traded for the scaultrite crystals, except where green once stood was a distinctly Altean blue. “If you have the time, I might like to take you up on that offer in the hopes that perhaps sharing the story behind this cube will lessen its burden.”

Lance doesn’t speak, only nods to motion for Coran to continue. “To understand I believe I will need to tell you a story Lance. A story of a boy and his prince.”

Coran sat back, shifting to a more comfortable position as he began. “Long ago, perhaps ten thousand six hundred years ago, an Altean boy was born. The boy’s parents could not stay with him however, and he was given to his grandfather to be raised. With his grandfather the boy lived to see the construction of a great castle, and upon its completion, he lived inside. Once old enough to comprehend such a bond, the boy became friends with the prince. They were young, adventurous, and the best of friends despite the difference in class. They swore to one another they would _always_ be together to the ends of time.”

Coran took a deep breath that shuttered and Lance rested a hand against the man’s shoulder in reassurance. He had an idea of who the boy and his prince were, but he said nothing as Coran continued. “The boy and the prince grew up, and to stay alongside his friend as well as protect him, the boy, now a young man, became a soldier. From there he moved up to be a royal guard and his companionship with the prince only grew stronger. Tragedy struck later on, the king and queen dying in an accident off world. The prince was heartbroken and grieving. Though they would not speak of it later, the man gave himself to the prince for many nights of his mourning, for he was willing to give anything for his prince.

As he was the only heir, the prince completed the coronation ceremony to become king. It was as he watched his friend from the back of the room, dressed in the finest of clothes and accepting the responsibility of his world that the man realized; he loved his king more than a soldier should. He would not tell the king, as another burden would only weigh him down on top of the responsibilities of the kingdom. The man was happy knowing he could be by the side of the one he loved.

Years later when the king was more of a man rather than a young man, he took on a wife. They loved each other greatly, and despite the hole it tore in his chest, the man, the soldier, offered them nothing but his support and love even as his own ties with the king grew weak in exchange. For if his king was happy, he assured himself, surely he would be happy too. When they announced they were to have a child, he smiled for them. When the king pulled him aside and asked for him to be the secondary guardian he agreed without hesitation despite the pain, for he would give up anything, do anything, for his king.

Tragedy appeared to be a common thing for the king, and in the birth of his daughter not even the best of doctors and technology could save his wife. She died, and once again the king sought out the arms and bed of his friend for comfort. The man let him in, for that was the closest he would ever get to being with his king. If he could comfort his king, surely he could be comforted as well.

The king would rely on the man more and more as time passed on. Without a queen, ruling a kingdom as well as raising a child was an impossible task. On a whim the king promoted the man to royal advisor to simplify his tasks. Now they were always together, and their once dying connection reestablished itself ten-fold. The man came to love the king’s daughter like his own as time moved foward. His affections for the king himself growing more than he ever thought possible as they went on many adventures like those of their childhood. Together they visited faraway lands, fought battles, traded with pirates, and met great engineers that gifted them with technology.

One day the kingdom created new weapons, giant mechanical creatures that would protect the universe. The man worried every time his king set out where he could not follow, but waited patiently every time for his return. Another pilot of the great machines would betray the king and his lands. He would move to destroy their home and the king would ask one last thing of his friend. “Give me your promise my friend.” He would say. “Promise me to protect my daughter and return peace to this universe when you awaken.” The man agreed without hesitation and entered the cryopods alongside the king’s child. He would awaken ten thousand years later to being one of the last of his species with the king’s Olkari cube in his pocket.”

Lance brushes Coran’s shoulder with his own as Coran turns to look at him. “Do you know what he left Lance?”

Lance shakes his head and Coran tosses the cube into the air, eyes beginning to mist as it floats. A deep but kind voice makes itself known. “Coran, my oldest friend and my closest companion, I leave you this message because I am gone. I was a fool to never address my feelings for fear of backlash or perhaps your rejection. I feel for you as one would a most precious lover, that is to say, I love you. I’m sorry I never told you, may we meet again in the next life and make better choices than those of our past.”

Coran is fully crying now though in a dignified manner. There is no sobbing, no heaving, only the silent movement of tears moving down his chin to drip onto his lap are present. “I never told him I loved him. He loved me back and now he’s gone.”

Lance does what feels right and flings his arms around Coran’s shoulders, gripping harder when a pair return the embrace around his back. “I’m so sorry Coran.”

Coran mumbles something in reply but Lance doesn’t catch it. They sit there for a very long time that night as Coran tells more specific stories from his time with Alfor. They laugh, cry, and remember as their moods change and their conversation begins to come to an end. Coran says one final thing. “Thank you Lance.” Lance lets the man continue. “If you would not mind I would like to share stories of my earlier times with Alfor with you when you have the time. I’m not sure why, but it feels as though some of the weight of his passing has eased. Perhaps it’s because I feel more in touch with him than I have since I woke.”

They leave the room together, a silent agreement that there would be more stories, more tears, more laughter, but overall, always someone there to share them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This is really only the second Alforan fic I've written and overall I still consider myself rather inexperienced in writing. Drop me a comment or a kudos to let me know what you think :3
> 
> You can come say hi and talk with me at im-awkward-but-social.tumblr.com


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